If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ.You must register to post. After registering, your first post will be reviewed before it appears. We've found this is necessary to limit spam. Registration is free and quick. To view forum posts, select the topic that you want to visit from the list on the forum home page. (Click the "forum" tab on any page to go to the home page.) Under each topic, you can add a comment to an existing discussion, or click "Post New Thread" to start a new discussion.

Maple Valley Ride

Yesterday, I needed some alone time to use for exploration, so I did a ride from the southern end of Lake Washington to Maple Valley along the Cedar River Trail. I then rode back on various roads and the Soos Creek Trail in the dark. I plan on making a video of the Cedar River Trail portion, so stay tuned in the coming month or so.

The weather was typical for winter in the Pacific Northwest: temperature in mid-40's (F), overcast skies, occasional light rain.

I managed to get a flat in the rain in the dark while riding on one of the shoulders of the 45 mph speed limit roads (a little uncomfortable, but hey, I gotta get home somehow), but since I've gotten so many flats since I moved out here, I was able to quickly and efficiently find and fish out the piece of glass (of my 13 flats since moving here, all but one have been from glass) before replacing the tube. I'm going to take a pic of the jagged mess that is my rear wheel's Gatorskin tire (it's done the best after replacing 2 other tires but has still taken a beating). If there is such a thing as a magnet for glass, I surely have it on my rear wheel!

(left) from the Renton Rowing Center at the southern end of Lake Washington with Seattle left, Mercer Island center, and Bellevue right; (right) small airplane in a nearly continuous line landing at nearby Renton Municipal Airport

(left) riding the Cedar River Trail which is adjacent to the 50 mph speed limit Renton Maple Valley Highway; (right) we've got a logjam on the river!

(left) taking a break under a bridge; (right) hanging out on an iron truss bridge in Maple Valley

(left) after reaching Maple Valley, I turned onto the Cedar to Green Rivers Trail which is packed gravel, not unlike the Metropolitan Branch Trail; (right) my destination in Maple Valley was Lake Wilderness which has a park and an arboretum that I will peruse on a future trip

(left) I had never ridden the Soos Creek Trail, but riding it in the dark was a lot of fun. It had a couple of low spots including one that was submerged with a helpful sign reading "Water Over Trail" (right) one of the slightly elevated concrete bridges over the marshy landscape

It's not every day that one gets to fulfill one of their childhood dreams, but I am happy to say that I did that on Sunday! I've been a Nintendo nerd for nearly my entire life, and I've always wanted to visit the Nintendo of America building. Now that I'm living in the Seattle area, Nintendo of America is reachable because it just so happens to be in nearby Redmond. I also checked out some other interesting things along the way, and somehow I lucked out in the weather changing from a dreary, overcast day with light rain to a partly cloudy day with the sun even making an appearance (temperatures were in the mid-50's (F), too!).

(left) bridge being built for the future expansion of the Link light rail, this line will connect Seattle to Bellevue to Redmond; (right) interesting turn-off from a bike lane near Microsoft HQ to a trail access ramp for the SR 520 Trail (runs from Seattle to Redmond)

(left) Microsoft Visitor Center (closed on the weekend for some reason); (right) little free library on the Microsoft campus; Also, I should mention, the Microsoft campus is as big as that of a major university!

(left) that's pure joy on my face as I fulfilled a childhood dream to finally see Nintendo of America! (center) a Guardian (from Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild) attacked me, and as someone who has been attacked by them in the game, seeing a real-life nearly full size version (this was about 7 feet tall) was pretty intimidating; (right) bike and Nintendo sign garden; Also, the Nintendo of America is only about 2 blocks away from the Microsoft HQ!

(left) in the state of Washington, I have come to see many uses of a bike lane and separate pedestrian lane in lieu (cough, cough, being cheap) of a sidewalk; (right) Lake Sammamish as a beautiful blue sky took over

(left) I rode on the West Lake Sammamish Parkway which is an interesting bike lane-based opposite-side-of-the-lake counterpart to the East Lake Sammamish Trail and became quite nice with a clearer sky, riding amongst the evergreen trees; (center) I rode on the Mountains to Sound Trail of which the I-90 Trail is a part; (right) Olympic mountains (about 50 miles away) visible with the Bellevue skyline

Let's Bike SR 520 Trail from Seattle to the Velodrome Video

I started off the new year with an awesome ride along the entirety of the SR 520 Trail which runs from Seattle (about half a mile from University of Washington and the Burke-Gilman Trail) across Lake Washington on the world's longest floating bridge into Bellevue and eventually Redmond. The trail has lots of climbs, but if one goes all the way to its eastern end at the Sammamish River Trail in Redmond, one can easily go to Marymoor Park and the Jerry Baker Memorial Velodrome. The full trail has been open only since December 2017 when the final portion connecting Seattle to the Evergreen Point floating bridge was completed.

I was a bit delayed on making this video since I was deep into my 2017 in Review video, but I am happy to have this one completed. Enjoy!

P.S. - someday, I hope to be able to stay up on the banked curves on the velodrome, but for now, I am le scrub.

Soggy Dumpling Ride

Komorebi led us through the rain...and the rain....and the rain, which was thankfully interrupted by stops for dumplings.
Here are some pics from the ride:
Birru:
Soggy riding
Mr. Happy at the starting point: Laoban in DC
LSG got trapped before we even started